Glossary-Detail

The German nation-state was known as the German Reich from 1871 to 1945. During this period there were three different political entities and systems: the German Empire (monarchy) under the Kaiser from 1871 to 1918, the Weimar Republic (democracy) from 1918 to 1933, and the Nazi rule from 1933 to 1945 (dictatorship). The territory of the state changed several times during this period. From 1935, as a result of the Nazi regime’s policy of expansion, the territory of the state was (violently) extended to include the Saarland in 1935, then Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938 and, from 1939, mainly Danzig, West Prussia and Wartheland.